LORI

CHAPTER 5

-

I

-

Though the crisis had passed, the town showed signs that it hadn’t yet recovered from the tragedy. The owners of devastated houses didn’t look very motivated to repair the damage as they sat around sulking, and their neighbors didn’t seem at all inclined to help cheer them up. Every face wore a demented expression, and the people stood around like empty husks, or milled about in the streets aimlessly. It was almost as if the overwhelming disaster had stripped everything that mattered from them. But in the midst of the milling townsfolk, mixed with the chatter of the frantically scrambling relief party that answered directly to the mayor, a crisp and spirited young voice rang out. It was that of Dr. Tsurugi, working at the emergency medical facility that’d been established in front of the hospital. “Okay,” he said, “I want you to form a single file—no pushing—and one by one, take a seat.”

Once a patient was seated in the simple revolving chair, Dr. Tsurugi ran his hands over their clothed form and asked them a few questions. The palms of his gloves were imprinted with some kind of medical diagnostic program. The questions were to gauge the level of mental upheaval each patient had suffered.

“Okay—Point nine seven. A slight case of radiation poisoning. Mental balance is . . . no problem. Pick your medicine up over there. Okay, next!”

Only at the very end did a bit of honest emotion slip into the doctor’s face, but shortly thereafter he reclaimed his beaming countenance. It was a sight to see him in action, working through the endless chain of patients at a rate of less than a minute each. However, the person by his side dispensing medicine wasn’t the nurse. It was a lovely young lady of seventeen who couldn’t compliment anyone or say a single word to comfort them, but who showed all the compassion she could muster in her large eyes as she quietly handed them their medicine. It was difficult to believe that, less than ten hours earlier, her whole body had been covered with plasters for removing radioactive contamination. It was Lori.

After seeing how terribly overburdened Dr. Tsurugi was, she’d volunteered to help out. Of course, the physician’s situation hadn’t been helped by the fact that his nurse had been horribly frightened and had yet to recover from her dementia. As Lori gazed at the townsfolk and the numb expressions they wore, there was sorrow in her eyes, but another, more invigorating feeling filled her slight frame. She’d lost the use of her voice and ears, but she had to go on living. The determination to do so burned strongly in her. However, on a more basic level, the girl was immensely pleased to be able to do something on her own.

Lori’s smiling eyes were suddenly infused with an intense glimmer. A powerful figure in black was coming down the same street filled by the lines of townsfolk.

D stopped next to the physician. “Make it through okay?” he asked. From the Hunter’s tone of voice it wasn’t clear whether he was actually concerned or just being polite. And, of course, the sound of it didn’t reach Lori’s ears at all. Still, she got the feeling there was something beyond the usual severity in the gaze he cast on the physician and herself, and it made her heart leap.

“I muddled through somehow,” Dr. Tsurugi replied. “How about you? I’ve heard dhampirs have a far greater tolerance for radiation than the average human—” The physician caught himself and quickly bit his lip. A few of the townspeople looked surprised by what they’d heard, but most showed no reaction at all. While the shock of the magnetic storm was to blame, the effect it’d had on the populace was just too great.

“Is the corpse inside?” the Hunter asked.

“Yes, he’s still asleep. I don’t know what you did to him, but it must’ve been incredible.”

“I’d like a look at it.”

“Fine. But I’d like something in return,” the physician said, his hands never taking a break from examining patients.

“What’s that?”

“Once you’re done with that, I’d like you to help me out.”

“There’s nothing I could do,” said D.

“If you’ve got arms and legs, we’ve got work for you.”

“Okay, if I’ve got time.” And with that uncharacteristic reply, D went through the door.

Lori’s sorrowful gaze followed the Hunter. He hadn’t so much as acknowledged her presence.

-

On entering the operating room, D took a portable atomic lamp off the shelf and switched it on. A pale flame blazed up around the wick. The body of the man lying on the operating table on the other side of the room was outlined in blue. Twisting the faucet to get the water running, D looked down at his left hand and said, “I’ve got some soil ready, too, but what would you like first?”

“Don’t ask dumb questions,” a voice quickly answered. At the same time, a human face complete with eyes and a nose mysteriously surfaced in the palm of the Hunter’s hand. Forming a scowl, it said, “You’re splitting hairs with all this talk about fire first or water first, when the truth is nothing’s been all that tasty lately. After all, I’m the one who’s gotta eat them. Oh, my—we’ve got a nuclear reactor today? That looks positively delicious. None of that alcohol lamp or dried werewolf dung, thank you. That stuff’s the worst!”

Taking a handful of dirt from one of his coat’s inner pockets, D put it beside the lamp. “Be quick about it,” he said. “The corpse should be waking up soon.”

“Hmph. Well if it does, you can just put it back to sleep again. Day in and day out, you’re always pushing me around.”

“Fire or water?” the Hunter asked.

“Hmm, I’ll take the dirt.”

D held his left hand over the blackish pile. There was the intense squeal of air being drawn in, and the clod of earth broke apart into a powder that was inhaled by the palm hanging over it.

“That tastes awful!” the voice said after sucking up every last grain of dirt. “This soil hasn’t known the usual ups and downs, or been part of the natural circle of life, death, and rebirth. It doesn’t take its life from the planet. It’s just a decoration laid down over steel. You’re not gonna be very satisfied with the kind of results you get by feeding me crap like this!”

Without saying a word, D held his left hand up to the atomic flames.

“Sheesh! You dolt. Water’s supposed to be next,” the voice squawked, but the Hunter didn’t move a muscle. Further curses of “freak” and “sadist” soon died out, and the atomic light—as impossible as it sounds—quickly condensed into a single glowing stream that disappeared into D’s hand. Or, to be more precise, into the tiny mouth that’d opened in the palm of his hand. And just how voracious was that mouth? Well, the ultracompact reactor the lamp was equipped with was supposed to be enough to power the atomic flame for more than a decade, but in less than two minutes its color faded, it flickered, and finally it went out.

D didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow at that bizarre occurrence, but instead put this hand under the spigot in the sink, palm up now. A few minutes later, the voice sputtered, “That’s enough,” and as it did, D twisted the faucet to shut it off.

“How are you feeling?” D asked. His eyes remained trained on the corpse.

“Well, I’ll get by. I suppose I’m a hell of a lot better than I was last night.” Along with the words, a gout of flame roared from the palm of the Hunter’s hand. In a mouth left pale blue by a few thousand degrees of heat, a red tongue flicked impassively, saying sharply, “So, what the heck do you want analyzed?”

Devoid of pity or any other deeper emotion, D brought his left hand over to the man on the operating table—and put it against his forehead. At that instant, the whole corpse stiffened and bent backward from the waist, like a bow. It snapped into the shape so fiercely that it wouldn’t have been strange to hear his hipbones shattering. Countless red points began to form all over his body, along with specks of blood. Had this body, which had supposedly long since ceased to function, begun to have metabolic activity once again? The vivid red spots grew larger and larger, and in no time their surface tension broke and they began to course down the sides of the body, leaving disturbing trails on his flesh. When the first drop hit the operating table, a faint moan escaped from the corpse.

D had his eyes half-closed. What was his hand trying to do? What kind of analysis? What did he hope to learn from this corpse?

-

When the treatment of the townsfolk and the distribution of medicine had finally wound down, Lori quickly looked at the physician. Massaging his hands, Dr. Tsurugi nodded to her. The girl got up and went into the hospital. Talking pains not to tread too loudly, she peeked into the waiting room. There was nobody there. Was he in the office, or maybe the operating room? It had never even occurred to Lori that D’s business there might be with a corpse. Once more, she stepped out into the hall. She decided to try the office.

A few inches away from her, the door to the operating room opened inward. A figure suddenly appeared. A man completely covered in blood.

Lori froze in her tracks, choking back a scream. The man suddenly collapsed in a heap. When Lori saw the other figure that stood behind him, she desperately tried to keep her knees from failing her. She didn’t want him to see her do anything stupid. Having lost her voice and hearing, she was damned if she’d lose anything else now.

As the girl tried desperately to steady her footing, D watched her without saying a word. Waiting until she’d gotten her trembling under control, the Hunter grabbed the corpse by the neck and brought it back into the operating room. As they gazed at the blood spilled on the floor, his eyes held a dark tint.

By the time D went back out into the hall, Lori had returned to her senses. She’d always been a brave girl.

“You want something from me?” D asked. He said it out loud.

Lori tried desperately to follow the movements of his lips. Somehow, she managed to read them. She shook her head. She had no business with him. She just thought it would be nice to see him. That was all.

“While you may not be able to get back what you lost, you can learn something new in return,” D remarked impassively, almost as if he didn’t care what became of Lori. Not understanding exactly what’d been said to her, Lori pursed her lips with grim resolve and tried not to miss anything else. D said to her, “Come with me. We probably don’t have much time.”

And with that he walked out. Lori followed after him. A smile had risen to her lips. By watching D’s cold profile, she understood what he was saying.

“Just where are you two going?” the physician called to them as they came out the front door.

“Where’s the highest point in town?” the Hunter asked in return.

“That’d be the hill behind the factories. Why?”

Nodding with satisfaction, D began to walk away. As the two figures walked off down the street, the physician watched them coolly.

-

The damage to Chad Beckly’s house had been relatively minor. Fastening a waterproof tarp over a couple of holes that falling rocks had left in the roof, he decided the repairs could wait for another day. They were a family of four. There was Chad, his wife Vera, and their two sons Luke and Simon. Chad’s family was extremely concerned about the way he was acting. Ever since he’d come home from the navigational control room, his expression had been one of deep depression. Skipping dinner entirely, as soon as he’d put the sheet over the roof he’d gone straight to bed.

What was troubling Chad was where the town was headed. The new route that’d been programmed into the computers clearly had them headed right for some of the Nobility’s ruins. They’d probably be there in less than two days. The question was, what was waiting for them there? Even the mayor said he didn’t know. Legend alone had the answer. Graves. And not the kind of Noble resting place ornamented with elaborate crests and guarded by electronic devices. What slumbered there was . . .

Hauling his mind back from its slide into anxiety, Chad tried his best to get to sleep. The wind howled outside his window. Tomorrow, he’d have to get up before dawn and head back to the control room. What on earth was going to happen to the town? Chad’s brain was burning with worry. Downstairs, his wife and children were still up and about. So much had happened, they probably couldn’t get settled down to rest.

There was a slight sound . . . A rap at the door, perhaps? His wife walked around. The floorboards creaked. He’d have to speak to the mayor about getting them replaced. But who could be out at this hour? There was absolutely no way he was going back to the control room. Someone came in. The door was still open. There was the sound of something falling over. Did the missus trip over that dang chair again? he wondered. Wait a minute—they didn’t get back up.

Footsteps crossed the living room and started up the stairs. Creaking all the while. Must be his wife. Out in the hall now. Still coming. Slowly. Coming this way. The footsteps stopped. Out in front of the boys’ room.

Maybe I should go see who it is? he thought. No, it’s just the little woman, of course. Besides, I’m dog-tired.

The door opened. Aw, she shouldn’t have gone and done that. Hey, that was a scream just now, wasn’t it? More thuds as things fell. Two of them. The door closed. The footsteps were coming closer. Slowly. No hurry . . . They stopped. In front of his bedroom. It couldn’t be . . .

There was a knock on his door. Chad remained in bed. The knocking continued, then stopped for a bit—and started again.

Chad got out of bed. Step by step, each one feeling like it was sinking into the carpet, he headed for the door. He didn’t want to go. He knew it was his wife outside the door. But what if it wasn’t . . .

Right in front of the door, Chad paused for a moment. The knocking stopped. The doorknob clicked as it turned. Gently at first, then quickly . . .

With a tremendous snap, the doorknob, the plate around it, and the section of door they were attached to all vanished. There was a gaping hole now. And the door had swung open. Someone was standing there. It wasn’t his wife.

A horrible choking sensation assailed Chad. He reached up to claw at his own throat, but before his hand got there his heart had stopped.

-

While it was indeed a hill, with a height of only about fifteen feet, it hardly had a commanding view. And yet, for one of the two it was surely more than adequate. After all, Lori wasn’t alone, and by her side was a man the darkness suited more than anyone. Despite the moonlight, the plains they overlooked were as dark as anything imaginable, but the sky to the east was already laced with the first thin light of dawn. The wind pricked at Lori’s cheeks. It was as cold and sharp as an awl. Lori gazed at D while D watched the eastern sky. Did those trapped in darkness hope for the light of dawn, too?

So, what had they come up here to do? D bent down by Lori’s side and put one of the fingers of his left hand to the ground. Lori read the words he wrote in the sand. I hear voices, D had written. What voices was he talking about? The message seemed almost cruel.

Lori turned up the collar of her coat. The wind tossed her soft hair as it passed. So cold, she thought. Maybe people weren’t meant to live out in the wild. After all, it was this cold even at daybreak.

The town was still moving. But going where? It had no destination. Where was it heading? Not even Lori had any idea what D was thinking about. While it was true she’d been raised in town, she’d also experienced life out in the wilderness. The wilds were just too terrible. The fear inspired by the monstrosities and vicious beasts the Nobility had loosed was still enough that the world would quake at dusk today.

Lori had wanted to go back to the town with all her heart. However, the paradise she’d wanted now seemed so hollow. Lori no longer had words or sounds, which was exactly why she could feel things so much more intensely . . . She thought of working reasonable hours, and having reasonable accommodations, food, and clothing, of having a life that was satisfactory, but not satisfying at the same time. The overwhelming sense of loss from the people after they’d made it through the magnetic storm only served to highlight her feelings. If she hadn’t experienced life in the wilder-ness, she probably would’ve been just like the rest. Although she was far from conceited, Lori knew there was something wrong with the town as it was now. But, in her silent world of despair, did she have reason to be proud of being different from the rest? An inescapable sense of loneliness filled her little heart. While she had the feeling the world she was meant to live in was just around the next bend, for Lori that was a far-distant land. If I get off this town, what’ll happen then? she wondered.

To the east, the edges of the mountains had begun to glitter with a rosy hue. Light slipped down the mountainside, becoming a torrent that flooded the plains, and in no time Lori’s entire field of view was tinged in gold. She closed her eyes. Even with them closed, she could see. She saw the color of wind. And how the wind shined in its own way.

After a while, D opened his mouth. Lori tried to read his lips. She didn’t catch it all. A bit more slowly, D repeated it. Finally she understood him.

Next time, come alone. That’s what he was saying.

-

It was a little past six o’clock Morning when D called on the mayor. He found the mayor sleeping in his chair in his office. As a cold pain tightened his chest, the mayor jumped up and saw the Hunter standing by the door. Putting his hand to his throat and breathing a sigh, he asked, “How long have you been there?!”

D said nothing.

“So, it seems I have you to thank for scaring the daylights out of me . . . Just having a dhampir around seems to be enough to give folks nightmares.”

“I’m here because I need to ask you something.”

“Ah, yes, that’s right . . . You were by a little earlier, weren’t you? You’ll have to excuse me. I was out at the time.”

“It seems you had the Knights detained.”

The Hunter’s softly spoken words made Mayor Ming’s eyes bulge. “Who told you that?”

“It doesn’t matter. Why did you stop them? Why’d you have them thrown in jail?”

“Do I have to answer that? The only thing you’re here to do is to kill our vampire.”

“And what if someone manufactured that vampire?” D asked.

“What?!”

“What did the man who boarded your town two centuries ago have to say to you?”

The mayor greeted the question with silence.

“What did it involve?”

More silence. Beads of sweat appeared on the mayor’s brow. “Just what I told you before,” the mayor finally said.

His voice lacked strength of will, and D shattered it with his own soft tone. “What did the man who visited here two hundred years ago tell you? I can imagine what it was, but I won’t mention it. However, it was the Knights who accomplished what your visitor hoped to do. But only after long years had passed. That’s what you wanted. What did you want it for? Why did you have a falling-out with the Knights?”

Nothing from the mayor.

“After two centuries, vampires suddenly start showing up here, and yet we can’t find the cause for it. There’s no one here sucking people’s blood and turning people into vampires. There’s only one answer—they were manufactured. Made that way by somebody’s special process.” D’s eyes looked like they could suck the soul from the mayor. “Made with the technique he gave to you, and you taught to the Knights. What was in their house?”

Bracing both hands on the head of his cane, the mayor hung his head. “Peace must be maintained in town for all time.” A voice closer to a groan flowed from beneath the mayor’s bowed head. “The conditions now are ideal. But we’re still hounded by destruction and the creatures of nightmare. The mayor has a duty to protect the townsfolk.”

“Peace and ideals,” D muttered. Coming from his lips, the words lost all meaning and became mere sounds.

“This town is what the Frontier would be ideally.” Saying this, the mayor lifted his face. It was warped. His lustrous skin had surely been artificially augmented. The ugly wrinkles that crept across his cheeks looked like furrows in a freshly plowed field. “To live serenely out in the untamed forces of nature without fear of the Nobility or their despicable ilk—that was the human ideal. When I formed this town and peopled it with a select few, I believed I’d gotten closer to that goal than anyone. But many threats still remained. It was still far from perfect . . . ”

The mayor’s finger pressed the top of his desk. Suddenly, D was in the middle of town. It was the residential section immediately after the magnetic storm. The images must’ve been shot with a holographic camera. The plastic roofs of many houses were melted, and the electrical discharge towers gave off pale smoke and spat sparks in their death throes. People with burns either hobbled along on their own or were held up by family as they tottered slowly down the street, most likely headed to the hospital. A little girl passed right through D’s waist and disappeared into a back room. A fire engine ran over a sofa, then plowed through someone’s front door. Fires were springing up everywhere. A middle-aged man grabbed an electrified handrail, lurching backward as purple light shot from him. It was a ghastly tableau.

“This is the town at its limits. A mere magnetic field can’t even begin to compare to the other monstrosities the Nobility loosed on the world. Yet, if running into it wreaked this kind of havoc, then what the town considers ideal is still far shy of what I have in mind.”

“And making those ideals a reality involves making sacrifices and taking certain steps, doesn’t it?” the Hunter said. “Certain bloody steps, I’d say. What exactly did you ask the Knights to do?”

The mayor swallowed loudly. He didn’t suppose D was going to leave now, and he wasn’t the kind to be taken in by a lie. As Ming was about to slowly take a step, his foot froze in place. An unearthly aura was filling the room. So this is what a dhampir can do? he thought. This is the man called D? So terrified it wouldn’t have been strange if his heart had stopped, too scared to even shake, the mayor gazed at the Hunter’s gorgeous countenance.

“Answer me. What did you ask the Knights to do? What did they discover?”

“It was . . . ” the mayor panted. An incredibly powerful essence threatened to crush his psyche. “It was . . . ”

At that very moment, the intercom on the mayor’s desk flashed red. With the series of short, tension-filled buzzes, D’s unearthly aura dissipated almost immediately. Wiping at his greasy sweat, the mayor grabbed the intercom microphone. “What is it?”

“This is the navigational control room. We’ve got a lone flying object approaching from north-northwest at a range of forty miles. Speed is sixty miles per hour. The object is—roughly the same size as our town. We’re trying to hail it, but haven’t gotten an answer.”

“I see. I’ll be right there. Don’t forget to prepare for a counterstrike, just in case.” When he switched off the intercom, the mayor had a relieved look on his face. He felt more at ease having some unknown intruder threatening the town than he did sitting in the same room with the young Hunter. “Guess I’ll be going, then,” the mayor said without looking in D’s direction. Just then the intercom buzzed loudly again. “What now?”

“The flying object has launched missiles. Three in all. They’re approaching now—twenty seconds to impact.”

“Get the barrier up!”

“It was damaged by the magnetic field—repairs are still under way.”

“Begin firing antiballistic missiles and antiaircraft guns!” When the mayor raised his now pale face once again, he saw no trace of D.

-

The Grim Reaper was winging his way toward the town. A trio of long, thin reapers, actually, with sensors in their tips and flames gushing from the nozzles to their rear. Taking into account their own speed and that of the town, they were constantly adjusting their course to the target as they closed in on it at full speed.

-

At the sight of the Hunter in black who’d appeared without a sound, everyone in the energy output control room forgot their approaching death and stood in a daze.

“Where’s the barrier projector?” D asked softly. Even knowing that death was drawing ever nearer, he still managed to maintain his detached tone of voice.

The eyes of all the workers focused on one corner in the back. D headed over to the silver cylinder. He was like a sprinting shadow. Saying not a word, the workers stepped to either side. In the gap they left was a gaping hole where a riot of pale blue electromagnetic waves danced chaotically. There was only one man who didn’t leave his post. Welding gear in hand, his body unexpectedly flew backward into the room. Fire rose from the protective plates on his chest. He’d just taken a blast of electromagnetism. Silently, D stood between the man and the rough hole. His handsome face shone blue and cold.

“Don’t bother. Can’t turn off the electromagnetic wave output,” the man shouted as he used his hand to beat out the flames on his chest. “There’s a hundred thousand volts running through there. Without a protector on, we’re talking instant death.”

“Get in touch with the control room,” D ordered the frozen workers. “When you need the barrier, I’ll send the current through.”

Asking no questions, and offering no arguments, the men nodded. One, who appeared to be in charge, brought his mouth over to the microphone on his shoulder, and had them patch him through to the navigational control room.

A slight tremor passed through the ship’s hull. The anti-aircraft fire had started. While the town was equipped with antigravity generators and an electronic barrier, their armaments were incredibly primitive. Aside from the Prometheus cannon—which, in a cruel trick of fate, had been stripped down for inspection an hour earlier—they had only twenty high-angle machine cannons with a two-inch bore and thirty antiballistic missile launchers. Of course, they couldn’t be expected to produce their own shells and missiles, so those were procured from flying merchants who specialized in dealing with floating cities like theirs. Even so, such merchants were few and far between, meeting the town only three times a year. If they ran out of goods they couldn’t produce in the interim, a floating city had no choice but to find them on their own. Many of the battles between two floating cities had resulted from this mutual need. But the hostile actions of the unidentified flying object firing upon them were nothing short of indiscriminate slaughter.

Prismatic flames spread across the sky, and black smoke enveloped the area. To increase their destructive power, the shells for the machine cannons contained depleted uranium and were armed with proximity fuses. Even if they failed to score a direct hit, they would automatically detonate if their sensors detected a target within their destructive range. Each time the big guns fired, the whole town rocked wildly.

The incoming missiles displayed the most astounding behavior. Like sentient beings, they dodged shells and adjusted their speed as they rushed steadily closer. They seemed to be mocking the town.

Minute course adjustments were nearly impossible for the town’s antiballistic missiles. Every one that’d been launched left an ineffectual trail of white through the empty sky as it disappeared.

A small, black shadow of death clung to the town. People looked out their windows at the three points of approaching light. On every face was a despondent expression. The thought of the fate those missiles held for them robbed them of their willpower. Long spared the threats of the world below, the fragility of their peace had been made evident by their enemy’s attack.

-

Missiles closing—three seconds to impact!” came the bloodcurdling news from the microphone on the man’s shoulder. All eyes were on D. The Hunter reached into the hole in the wall, and, grabbing a fistful of cables, he pulled down. From his shoulder to his wrist, pale blue electromagnetic waves clung to him like a spider’s web, and white smoke rose from his body. His face didn’t show the slightest hint of pain. His right hand went into action, pulling out the ends of the severed cords. Electromagnetic waves covered D entirely . . . Perhaps it was the first time this young man had worn a color other than black. Using his body as a conductor, energy suddenly shot from the reactor to the barrier projector.

Richly colored blossoms opened near the town. Flames that could get as hot as fifty million degrees and a lethal dose of electromagnetic waves and radiation churned through the atmosphere, threatening to destroy the electronic wall that’d suddenly appeared.

The people saw the electromagnetic waves running from D’s right hand to his left in reverse direction. D’s eyes narrowed. The flow changed back again. The barrier didn’t fade until the trio of blasts dissipated in the air.

-

II

-

Even after D had backed away, no cheer went up in the control room. What they’d just witnessed was so incredible it left them absolutely stunned with amazement. Their amazement, along with their overwhelming sense of relief, was enough to throw them into a state of dementia. The man before them—their savior—clearly couldn’t be human. That’s why he was so good-looking.

Lightly tossing his head, D shook off the white smoke still rising from his body.

“The flying object is closing,” a somewhat listless voice announced through the microphone. The main craft still remained.

Braced, perhaps, for the next attack, D didn’t move.

“It’s closing on us—just a thousand yards off, nine hundred, seven hundred, six hundred . . . ”

“It’s gonna hit us . . . ” someone muttered.

“We can’t change our heading.”

“We’ve had it now . . . ”

A black wind fluttered by the men.

D exited the control room. Racing up the stairs, he charged across the street. The center of town was completely empty. With sunlight falling in a bright shower, the town was a picture of tranquility. A voice he knew cried out, and D looked over his shoulder. Lori and Dr. Tsurugi were dashing toward him. D didn’t stop for them, but kept on running. Something became visible beyond the town’s defensive walls. The form of their foe was clear now.

It seemed that floating cities of various kinds followed the same basic structure, and the shape flying toward them at high speed bore a strong resemblance to their own town. In fact, it was almost identical. The familiar rows of dwellings, the navigational control tower, and three-dimensional radar arrays all stood out in the sunlight. Perhaps the only point where the two towns differed was that all of the structures on the other town were reinforced with menacing armor plating. One look at the new town and its aim was apparent. The vessel was built to plunder.

Posing as an ordinary city, they might close in on their victims under a pretext of trade, then use their cannons to rob their prey of their defenses before sending armed troops to board. In other words, they were pirates of the sky. But, strangely enough, not only wasn’t there a single person to be seen on the streets or in any of the ship’s portholes, but no one was visible through the control room’s window, either.

“That’s odd—if this ship’s here to loot us, they should be softening us up with their guns now,” D heard the winded Dr. Tsurugi say from behind him. “But they’re pulling alongside us instead. We’ll have to fight them.”

“What about the sheriff?” D asked, eying the pirate ship slowly circling them.

“He’ll be here soon, I’m sure,” the physician replied. “The real question is whether he’ll be of any use or not.”

“Why’s that?”

“As you may already know, due to their overprotected state, people around here are incredibly susceptible to shock. The towns-folk here have had peace for too long. Fights and other disputes have always been the sort of things they could settle among themselves in their little town. Forget the fact they wouldn’t know how to begin to deal with attackers from outside—the whole incident with the lightning has left the lot of them in a stupor.”

“Then it’s up to just the three of us.”

A perplexed expression wafted over Dr. Tsurugi’s face. “The three of us?” he muttered, paling instantly. “I can’t believe you! You intend to have Lori fight? Why, she’s just—”

“She has to live on her own.” D’s words had an edge like the wind.

After a bit of hemming and hawing, Dr. Tsurugi nodded. “You’re right. That’s what life on the Frontier is all about. But what’ll we do?”

A sharp impact shook the ground they stood on. The enemy ship had finally pulled alongside the town.

D produced a memo pad from one of his coat’s inner pockets. It was the same pad that’d been left out for Lori at the hospital. Eyes wide with astonishment, the physician wondered why he’d been carrying it around. Putting the tip of his forefinger in his mouth and nicking it open, D drew it across the memo pad. Fight or die, he wrote. We want you with us.

Us. That meant the three of them were going to fight together. Lori nodded fervently.

“But, what’ll you have her do? She’s an injured girl.”

“Go to the weapons bunker and get us some arms. She’ll carry the ammo and be in charge of reloading.”

“Okay.”

The two of them dashed away. D looked back at the blocks of buildings. As his companions’ footsteps faded out, more rough footfalls arose to take their place. It was the mayor, the sheriff, and some of his men—four men in all. And the physician had said he didn’t know if they’d be of any use . . .

There was another impact against their protective walls. From the deck of the pirate ship, several steel sheets extended toward the town. Hooks sank noisily into the top of the town’s walls, and the sheriff and his companions unconsciously backed away. Every face was taut with fear. These men lived in a closed society where everyone understood just how tough they were supposed to be, but now that they faced invaders who wouldn’t know the reputations they’d long relied on, they were reduced to cowards.

D’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. He waited, but what he waited for never appeared. Silence. . . Nothing happened. While the planks had been laid for plundering, not a single blood-crazed outlaw appeared.

“What the hell is this, then?” one of the lawmen said, sounding rather relieved. “Are they just fucking with us or what? Not one of them has shown himself.”

“They’ll come out any second,” another one said, his voice on the verge of tears. “And when they do, they’ll rip us to shreds with some god-awful weapons. Damn it! God damn it all! Why do we gotta go up against these damn freaks?!”

The sheriff roared, “Knock it off! You’re turning my belly. We’re here now, so there’s no use bitching about it. We ain’t letting a single one of them marauding motherhumpers into town.”

Compared to his compatriots, Hutton was certainly brave. In the wake of that outburst, his cowardly deputies readied their shotguns again. And yet, still—nothing happened.

The mayor looked at D suspiciously. “Somehow, I don’t think they’re toying with us . . . ”

No reply came from the Hunter, but his black coat zipped past the men’s noses. D stood on the gangway bridging the two vessels. Black hair streaming in the wind, coat fluttering, he trained his gelid stare on the deck of the enemy ship. Suddenly, he advanced without making a sound.

The men looked at each other. They must’ve realized protecting the town was an unavoidable part of their duty, but the mayor stayed where he was, led by the sheriff, while the others struggled up the wall and began to cross the same gangway. Just as they finished crossing the ten-foot-long plank, two things made the men grow pale—a strange aura and a stench. The aura could only mean death. And the stench was that of death as well.

Just moments earlier this ominous vessel had them fearing for their very lives, but now the unsettling silence did even more to start these rough men shaking. There was no sign of D. The men hopped down onto the street. Right in front of them lay the residential sector. The layout itself wasn’t all that different from their own town.

“Pete, you and Yan find the control room. I’m gonna check out this area.”

“But, Sheriff—this place gives me the creeps . . . ”

“You damn fool! The way things are going, there’s probably nobody on this tub. Maybe they took to killing each other, or some kinda epidemic broke out, but for all we know everyone could be dead. Now think for a second what that’d mean.”

Pete’s face, sullen until now, suddenly shone. “Oh, I get you! This here was a marauder ship. Meaning there’s probably a load of treasure here.”

“Damn straight! We’ll tell the ol’ mayor the town could use some of their energy surplus or their navigational computer or something, but the most precious cargo we’ll keep for ourselves.”

“Damn, you’re a shrewd one. No wonder you’re sheriff. But what’ll we do about the Hunter that went on ahead of us?”

“That’s pretty obvious. Kill ’im,” said the other man, Yan, but he didn’t know what D was capable of. While he knew about how D had killed the two deputies, not having seen it with his own eyes meant he found the account impossible to believe. “Lucky for us, the bastard’s all caught up in searching the ship. It’s a perfect chance to blindside him. What the hell—we can always say some automated defenses got him.”

“That’s real good thinking,” the sheriff responded, but his words sounded hollow. He knew, as only someone who’d had the tip of D’s blade pressed against their throat could, what a dhampir was capable of. “But don’t lay a hand on him, you follow me? We’ll just take whatever we want. I know how tough he is. You lump him in with normal Hunters, and you’ll be in for a world of hurt.”

“Yeah, but—” Yan began.

“We’ll come up with some way to get rid of him later. You savvy? No matter what happens, you don’t lay a hand on him,” the sheriff said sternly, adjusting his grip on the rocket launcher.

Parting company with Pete and Yan, the sheriff walked into the residential sector. Unconsciously, he sought a sound or anything else that would show some sign of life. Anything would do. Some hint of murderous intent rising from malicious thugs in hiding. The snarls of vicious beasts just waiting to cross the gangways with their masters and sink their fangs into the windpipes of helpless victims. The sound of a safety being disengaged on an automatic crossbow. Anything at all . . .

But there was nothing except the . . . howling of the wind. There was no sign of anyone on the roads, where the artificial sand had blown away, leaving the underlying dirt exposed. There were just lines of dead trees down either side of the street, their branches rattling dryly. Dust catching in his throat, the sheriff pressed a handkerchief to his mouth. His cough created an unsettling echo in the otherwise still air. The sheriff shuddered.

The sky was blue. His own shadow stretched long and wide across the ground. And yet, the giant was nearly paralyzed with fear. Here was a town. It had buildings. It shot missiles. It pulled alongside them, then laid gangways for boarding. And yet, there wasn’t a single crewman. How terrifying was that?

As Hutton was about to set off to look for the home of the local mayor—or, rather, the commander of this pirate ship—the tip of his boot struck something hard. When his eyes casually dropped to the ground, they ended up bulging from their sockets. It was a single bare bone. Most likely it’d been there for quite some time, as it was dried out and had a thin brown patina to it. It was clearly a femur. Seeing the severed end of it, the sheriff’s eyes went wider still. It was burnt. There were signs of carbonization. As he rubbed it with his finger, some of it fell away as powder. This hadn’t been charred little by little at a low temperature, as would happen in a fire. It’d been exposed to a blast of ultrahigh heat. Probably a laser.

For the first time, the sheriff noticed the white things hap-hazardly scattered about the place. There was a skull. And a rib cage. And another denuded skull resting on a pile of rags. As his eyes squarely met the skull’s empty sockets, cold sweat started soaking his broad back. Stirring his mind to keep it from freezing solid with fear, the sheriff headed over to a shack that appeared to be a bar and the intact skeleton lying in front of it. The steel arrow jutting from its forehead was a vivid testament to the tragedy that’d unfolded here. One of the skeleton’s arms was outstretched, and tight in its bony grip was a gleaming black automatic handgun of vintage design. Prying the weapon from its fingers, he examined it. All the ammo had been expended—most likely the result of a long, deadly conflict. But what in the world could’ve caused the roughneck crew of a pirate ship to start killing each other?

Sensing something behind him, the sheriff turned his gigantic form with lightning speed. Standing stock-still in the face of the seven barrels of his missile launcher were Dr. Tsurugi and Lori. “Oh, it’s just you two . . . ” he sighed. Wiping the sweat from his brow, the sheriff lowered his weapon.

“What in blazes is going on with this ship? What happened here?” Even the voice of the hot-blooded physician trembled a bit.

Looking around at their ominous surroundings and the remains at their feet, Lori seemed anxious, too. However, unlike the physician or the sheriff, she was completely detached from the whole world of sound, and this actually served to mitigate the terror for her to some degree. She and Dr. Tsurugi each carried a shotgun.

“Just what you see. Looks to me like they just went off on a goddamn killing spree. From the shape of these bones, I’d wager it was quite some time ago. And it looks to me like not one of them made it out alive.”

“Well, they launched missiles at us. And put down gangways. Is that the sort of thing a crewless ship does automatically? For starters, we don’t even know why they fired the missiles. They might’ve been small scale, but they were still nukes. If they’d scored a hit, they’d have most likely knocked the town out of the sky with one shot.”

“So, failing to shoot us down, they decided to close with us,” the sheriff spat. He looked at the skeletal faces, and, an instant after relief swept over him, the urge to plunder filled his head. The presence of the doctor and Lori quickly became a hindrance to his plan. They’ll get theirs, too, the lawman thought, a kind of madness suddenly at work in his mind. The barrel of the rocket launcher rose smoothly.

And that was when it happened. Screams echoed off in the distance. Two of them—Yan’s and Pete’s. Exchanging glances, the physician and sheriff started running as fast as they could toward the sound. The sheriff halted in front of the control center, where the iron door had fallen into the room. There was a blue tinge to the air, and the foul smell of burnt flesh hit his nose. Smoke was creeping out through the doorway. Someone was in there. Don’t tell me they went after D, he thought.

Apparently realizing his duty as a lawman, the sheriff told Dr. Tsurugi, “You two stay right here.” And then he slipped through the doorway alone. It didn’t take long at all. At some point someone or something had utterly destroyed the control room, and on the floor lay a pair of charred corpses, one on top of the other. He didn’t even have to look at them to know they were Pete and Yan’s remains. An optical weapon with less output than a laser had burnt them to a crisp. Most likely it was a heat ray.

Shifting the rocket launcher to his left hand, the sheriff drew a huge explosive-firing handgun with his right. While its design closely resembled that of an old-fashioned revolver, it could hold thirty-six shots. The exploding rounds were powerful enough to drop a lesser dragon with one shot, or dispatch a medium-sized fire dragon with half a dozen. He couldn’t very well start blasting away with his missiles indoors. Suddenly, a metallic sound reverberated from a pitch-black corner of the room. Looking over his shoulder, the instant Sheriff Hutton’s eyes caught a semicircular shape, his handgun roared.

The deafening report of a weapon made Dr. Tsurugi tense up. Beyond the doorway, a red glow swelled momentarily, and an incredible shriek rang out. Lori clung to Dr. Tsurugi’s arm, trembling. Though he’d told her to wait, the girl was determined to go with him. Apparently she could gather from the red light and Dr. Tsurugi’s tension that something had happened. Slowly mouthing the words, “Wait here,” Dr. Tsurugi pulled his arm free from her grasp.

Lori didn’t disobey him. In her travels with her parents, she’d learned far too well what resulted when action was precipitated by curiosity or fear.

Laying both hands gently on the girl’s shoulders, Dr. Tsurugi headed quickly for the doorway. His steps suddenly halted. With a strange sound, a dark figure appeared from the room. The doctor readied his shotgun. The first thing he saw was an arm-like protrusion that called to mind a thermal-ray cannon. Following that was the spherical body. And supporting that body from below were caterpillar treads like those of a tank.

“Get down!” the physician shouted as he shoved Lori out of the way, a wave of orange sailing right over him. The tremendous heat set the back of his white lab coat ablaze, and flames licked from his hair. Screaming, the physician writhed in pain. Cradling his head, he rolled his back against the ground in an effort to put out the fire.

Grabbing him by the scruff of the neck, Lori dove off to the side. A second heat shower narrowly missed the pair, striking the ground near where they lay. Without so much as looking at the physician’s back, Lori shouldered the shotgun and pulled the trigger. The blast struck the dome-shaped torso, and the buckshot ricocheted off in all directions with a beautiful sound. Lori threw herself to the ground. There was no way to escape now.

The arm that was going to spray them with white-hot death, however, turned in the opposite direction along with the rest of its body. In the shadow of a building some fifteen feet away there suddenly stood a figure in black so beautiful and tragic it numbed even the electronic brain of this machine. Perhaps that was the reason why it was delayed a tenth of a second aligning the sights on its thermal-ray cannon.

Easily leaping over the shower of blistering heat his foe unleashed, D brought his longsword down, slicing the top of the machine’s head into a half-moon shape.

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